CITYWIDE

BLOOMBERG, NYC2012 OFFICIALS DEPART FOR GHANA

Today and tomorrow could be New York’s last opportunity to convince the world community to select New York City as the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Last night, Mayor Bloomberg and a delegation including Mayor Dinkins, NBA All-Star Dikembe Mutombo, and other city and Olympic bid officials, left New York and flew to Ghana.

Once there, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, who founded the city’s Olympic bid, will present New York’s newly revised bid – with an Olympic stadium in Queens rather than on the far West Side of Manhattan – to the General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa. The International Olympic Committee will choose among five contender cities on July 6.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COUNCIL BILL WOULD REDUCE THE NUMBER OF TOWED VEHICLES

Car owners with unpaid parking tickets got a $120 break from the City Council yesterday. The council’s Committee on Transportation passed legislation that would allow car owners to acquire $350 – up from $230 – in parking fines before marshals or sheriffs can tow their car. The bill is expected to reduce the number of towed vehicles by half, Council Member Erik Martin Dilan, who introduced the bill two years ago, said. In 2002, Mayor Bloomberg increased fines for violations, including fines for double-parking, which increased to $100 from $50. The mayor is expected to support the legislation, which the full council will probably pass next week.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE DISMANTLE GAMBLING RING TIED TO BONNANO FAMILY

An alleged gambling and loan sharking ring run by elderly mobsters with ties to the Bonnano crime family was dismantled yesterday, as a dozen men were arrested on racketeering and other criminal charges, police said.

The arrests were the culmination of an 18-month investigation, involving thousands of recorded phone calls and surveillance, officials said. The alleged ring oversaw about $210,000 of illegal sports betting per week, using wire rooms in several locations in Queens, as well as Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, according to the Queens district attorney, Richard Brown. Illegal loans were made at rates as high as 156% a year – and when borrowers didn’t promptly pay back the money they owed, they were threatened with physical force, Mr. Brown said. If convicted on the charges, the defendants stand to face 25 years in prison.

– Special to the Sun

GE HONORS BROKAW BY AWARDING ‘GREATEST GENERATION’ SCHOLARSHIPS

In honor of Tom Brokaw’s stepping down from “NBC Nightly News,” network owner General Electric’s philanthropic branch, the GE Foundation, awarded six New York City public high school seniors from low-income families with $60,000 “Greatest Generation” scholarships.

For Olsi Argjendari of Fort Hamilton High School, Leanna Jordan of DeWitt Clinton High School, Kelly Maby of Richmond Hill High School, Heber Sanchez of Life Sciences Secondary School, Tiffany Ward of High School Studies, and Xiao Min of Seward Park High School, the GE foundation will cover $15,000 of college tuition each year for four years and donate $10,000 to a program in which each student is involved. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein called the GE Foundation, which has donated $2 million to the “Greatest Generation” Scholarship program, a “model of how the private sector can contribute to the lives of our children.”

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

MILLER OUTLINES COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Mayoral candidate and speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller, outlined a plan to improve the city’s public school system yesterday, including proposals that would require all high school students to do volunteer community service and a program that would provide after-school meals to nearly 450,000 low-income students.

Mr. Miller told a crowd at Pace University that the city’s public school system has floundered under Mayor Bloomberg. Mr. Miller said he would make the School Construction Authority more efficient and reduce its backlog by allowing for competitive bidding on one-third of construction and renovation projects. And, he said, he would reduce the number of students in each class; implement a three tiered career ladder for teachers to hold them more accountable and to ensure that they are fairly paid, and provide after-school programs for all students.

Though Mr. Miller has talked about his vision for revamping the school system piecemeal, yesterday’s address was his first comprehensive education policy speech. His goal, he said, was to make urban schools here more like suburban schools, where the resources and amenities are more abundant and where teachers are retained because pay is higher and they are treated with more respect.

Mr. Bloomberg, who has come under attack on education from other mayoral candidates, has defended his record on education by pointing to improved test scores.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

TEENAGER SHOOTS FRIEND AFTER FIGHT OVER CDS IN HARLEM

After a dispute over some compact discs, a 14- year old boy shot and killed his 15-year-old friend with a .38 caliber handgun in west Harlem yesterday, police said.

Around 4:30 p.m. a police lieutenant noticed a commotion at the corner of West 144th Street and Broadway. A crowd had gathered around the two fighting boys, and the officer heard shots fired. He then apprehended the shooter, who was trying to flee. The boy’s name was not released because of his age.

Paramedics took the victim, Phoenix Garrett, 15, who lived on St. Nicholas Avenue, to St. Luke’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival, police said.

If convicted of murder, the shooter faces nine years to life in prison, the most time 14-year-old and 15-year-olds can spend in prison under state law. He will be arraigned today in family court, police said.

– Special to the Sun